![]() In the pre-selection type of automatic telephone exchange each subscriber's line is terminated on the input side of the uniselector called pre-selector. In the Strowger type of automatic exchange, there are two alternative methods, on the answering side of the exchange: The exchange is always located at the centre of population. An auto telephone exchange contains a number of electromechanical switches, controlled by dialed pulses. A large number of telephone lines are interconnected with each other through the exchange. Telephone photos from 1948.Telephone Exchange is a central place through which one telephone can be connected to any other telephone indirectly. The City of Vancouver Archives has a Jack Lindsay collection of 135 B.C. The last manual switchboard in British Columbia was in Ahousat on Vancouver Island, and went dial in 1982. The final call at the HAstings manual exchange was made just before 11:00 pm on 5 November 1960. New Westminster, North and West Vancouver and most Lower Mainland communities also converted to dial in the 1950s.ĭunbar/Kerrisdale went dial in 1959, and Point Grey/UBC in 1960. A 1950s ad bragged that operator wait time was down to four seconds. Since demand for telephone service increased after World War II, manual exchanges had to add capacity by expanding switchboards and hiring more operators. ![]() Telephone operators looking up numbers in huge rolodex directories, ca.1940s. Operators used the same vintage headset equipment until 1960. The Calculagraph printed start and finish times for calls on cards by pulling on the levers. The equipment shown here was for recording long distance calls, ca.1940s. One thing they did to break the routine was to say “Rubber Knees” instead of “Number Please”. I met many former operators over the years, and they all had wonderful stories. Site of the new automatic AMherst exchange at 41st and Maple in December 1956. New dial exchanges were built with large windows to show off the new equipment. Land had to be purchased within a few blocks of the old manual exchange. CVA Bu P498īut World War II delayed further expansion, and changeovers to dial did not start in a major way until the 1950s. Telephone started the conversion to dial in 1939 and opened the first automatic exchange in a new building on Seymour at Robson in 1941, the same year the Pacific National Exhibition introduced Vancouverites to dial telephones and how to use them. While most telephone companies in large North America cities converted to dial exchanges in the 1920s and 1930s, Vancouver did not.ī.C. Telephone Company shows up at 555 Seymour Street in a new building. The company name changed with a move to the Empire building at Seymour and Hastings, and by 1907 the B.C. Vancouver’s earliest record of telephone service shows up in the 1888 City Directory as: VANCOUVER CENTRAL TELEPHONE COY., 11 Cordova st., C.S. George Pittendrigh with the first telephone switchboard that he installed in Tilley’s Bookstore. What made Vancouver unique at this time was that it was the largest city in Canada, and likely the USA, that still had operators connecting local calls. The letter at the end of the number indicated the party and 80 percent of Vancouver telephones were party lines. These numbers indicated a manual non-dial telephone with a shared party line. If you grew up in the City of Vancouver in the 1950s you may well remember your telephone number looked like this: KErrisdale 3457-M. Angus McIntyre collection By Angus McIntyre Angus McIntyre writes about its history and the changeover. November 5 is the 60th Anniversary of Vancouver’s last manual telephone exchange.
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